A serious range limitation exists, both in this country and in Europe, for training tank gunnery crews, due to the development of longer range artillery and the increase in population densities. Ammunition available for training-practice normally retains many of the high performance characteristics of the related combat ammunition, including long range.
The present invention relates to a new and improved short-range practice round for simulating the new kinetic energy type armor-piercing ammunition round which comprises a small-caliber armor-piercing subprojectile mounted in a full-caliber discarding-sabot and fired from a tank or other gun cannon at muzzle velocities exceeding 4000 feet per second. Although target practice rounds are available for simulating the spin-stabilizing discarding-sabot round, these are unsatisfactory for the newly developed fin-stabilized round, because they do not match the trajectory of the fin-stabilized round out to the desired ranges, and do not produce the same signature when fired.
In accordance with the present invention, a short-range practice round is produced by combining a self-destruct subprojectile with a conventional discarding-sabot. The subprojectile is an elongated body made up of a plurality of contiguous mating segments, releasable means for holding the segments together during launch and subsequent flight prior to release thereof, and means for releasing the releasable means at a desired point in flight, permitting the segments to separate from each other and rapidly decelerate by tumbling in air. The means preferably comprise a heat-sensitive nose cap which clamps the forward ends of the segments together and is adapted to disintegrate during flight at a predetermined aerodynamic temperature to release the segments. The rear ends of the segments are held together by means that is automatically releasable when the forward ends swing out after release thereof.